Son who blew family savings on bets is jailed
A GAMBLER has been jailed after he cleared out his parents’ bank account and blew £144,000 on internet betting.
Jason Rogers took advantage of his father Richard, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, and his mother Carol last year.
The 28-year-old emptied the account of £54,000 before going on to obtain loans in his parents’ names of around £90,000 after he was granted power of attorney over his father’s financial affairs.
Rogers, of Belhaven, Dunbar, in East Lothian, squandered the huge amount on the online gambling site Paddy Power.
The scam was only uncovered when bank staff got in touch with Rogers’s mother to inquire about the transactions.
Rogers earlier admitted to stealing £54,000 from his parents’ account and to obtaining a further £90,000 in loans taken out in the names of his mother and father between August 1 and November 25 last year.
He returned to Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday where, jailing him for ten months, Sheriff Robert Fife told Rogers he took ‘a grave view’ of the offence and that he had ‘abused the responsibilities placed on him’ by his parents.
Prosecutor Aidan Higgins previously told the court Rogers’s father had taken early retirement in 2007 and he had received a £37,000 lump sum and a monthly pension of between £1,200 and £1,400. Mr
‘Guilt and shame of his actions’
Rogers had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2012 at the age of 57 and all his financial affairs were handed over to his wife and his son.
Rogers then helped his mother set up online banking and he was given a bank card, the PIN and online access to the account.
Mr Higgins said: ‘The accused’s mother was then asked to attend the bank to discuss transactions into her and her husband’s account.
‘She was informed her account and the joint account had been cleaned out.’
Yesterday, Colm Dempsey, defending, said his client was repaying the stolen cash back at a rate of £300 per month.
He added: ‘The guilt and the shame of his actions will persist for a lengthy period of time.’